Following the Rules

Political lobbyist Jon McLeod on a Labour government’s regulatory priorities for financial services and the City reforms the current government should avoid.

 
Today’s guest outlines the three financial services reforms he expects the next government will prioritise. He details where he believes this government has gone wrong in its efforts to establish the UK as a thriving investment hub post-Brexit, and he explains what changes to the financial services sector he believes this government should avoid in order to keep the City as competitive as possible.
Jon McLeod has spent 26 years advising businesses and their bosses on political relations, corporate governance, and reputation management. His career includes stints as head of public affairs at lobbying group Brunswick and as chair of communications giant Weber Shandwick’s UK corporate, financial and public affairs practice, and of its Manchester office. Since 2021, he has worked as a partner at the communications consultancy DRD Partnership where he leads its competition and anti-trust practice.

Citi UK CEO Tiina Lee, Nationwide CEO Debbie Crosbie and Howden CAP’s executive chair Mary O’Connor outline how finance companies can best set, monitor and promote their purpose as an organisation

Today’s episode is a little different to normal. It is a recording of a recent panel discussion from City & Financial Global’s ninth annual 'Culture and Conduct Forum for the Financial Services Industry'. I was invited to moderate a panel on moral capitalism and we discussed how financial services can best link their profits with their purpose, how the newest intake of graduates is influencing firms decisions as they define and promote their purpose internally and externally, the transition to net zero and plenty more in between. I hope you enjoy it.

StepChange’s Peter Tutton on the changes that UK lawmakers, regulators and finance bosses should implement to help the country better navigate the cost-of-living crisis

Today’s guest outlines what UK lawmakers have missed in their efforts to address the fallout from the cost-of-living crisis. He details what policy changes the next government should prioritise to prevent long-term damage arising from the aftermath of the crisis. And he explains how the Financial Conduct Authority’s new consumer-focused rules should best be implemented to support financial services firms’ most vulnerable clients. 
Peter Tutton has spent two decades advising on mortgage, credit and related consumer policy. Since 2012, he has lobbied for regulatory reforms to help consumers in financial difficulty as head of policy at StepChange Debt Charity.

John Howells, CEO of LINK, outlines how lawmakers and regulators can best prepare the UK for a move to a digital economy

Today’s guest outlines how the UK can best prepare for a move to a cashless society. He calls on lawmakers to do more to guide those uncomfortable with that move through the transition to a digital economy and explains why any such digital inclusion programme must start with a clampdown on the UK’s “big” digital fraud problem.
John Howells is a former banker and consultant who has run the UK’s cash machine network since taking over as chief executive of cash machine provider LINK in 2012. In 2022, he also took on the role of Commissioner for the UK’s Financial Inclusion Commission.

Activist Mark Bishop outlines why a more consumer-led approach to UK regulation would benefit financial services workers

Today’s guest outlines why consumer advocacy should matter to those working in financial services and how those in the sector who agree can best get their voices heard.
He details what he would like to change about the UK markets watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority and UK regulation in general. And he discusses why he believes a “derisory” compensation package has been offered to investors who fell victim to the failed fund run by former star stockpicker Neil Woodford.
Mark Bishop is a consumer activist. Since 2020, he has been volunteering for the Transparency Task Force, a consumer advocacy body, on strategy, campaigning and public policy matters. Since 2020, he has also served on the Secretariat of the All Parliamentary Party Group on Personal Banking and Fairer Financial Services.

Special episode: Smarsh’s Tom Padgett maps out how finance bosses, compliance professionals and regulators can best navigate the new world of AI

Today’s episode is a special one produced in association with Smarsh, a US-headquartered technology firm providing global financial services companies with the tools to capture, store, and monitor their communications.
Today’s guest outlines how he expects the rise of artificial intelligence tools to change the way in which financial institutions’ run their compliance divisions and how compliance professionals, and the regulators they answer to, can best navigate the new world of AI. In particular, he explains compliance’s role as a critical enabling function for finance bosses looking to capitalise on the opportunities AI offers in a secure way.
Tom Padgett is the General Manager of Smarsh’s Enterprise business, which serves the needs of the world’s largest banks and financial services organisations.

Rachel Kent, government adviser and Hogan Lovells partner, calls on City executives to do more to help lawmakers in their efforts to future-proof UK finance

Today’s guest calls on City executives to play a more proactive role in guiding regulators and policymakers in their efforts to both future-proof and foster competition within the UK’s financial services sector.
She discusses how she believes the UK’s financial sector and its regulators can best navigate the vast programme of regulatory change derived from such efforts to bolster the City post-Brexit.
And she outlines the mindset shift required to establish yourself as a go-to adviser to governments and lawmakers.
And she should know, because Rachel Kent is a senior financial services lawyer who became one of the City’s most called-upon authorities on financial services reform in the wake of Brexit. She has since been invited to advise on or lead several of the government’s post-Brexit reviews of rules governing the UK financial services sector. She now acts as lead adviser to the government’s Treasury department on financial services matters.
As a senior partner in the global financial institutions group at law firm Hogan Lovells, she advises the largest banks, asset managers, insurers, and financial market infrastructure firms on financial regulation.

Investment banking veteran Craig Coben on the issues City regulators should prioritise to strengthen London as a financial centre

Today’s guest discusses why he believes London has lagged other financial centres in recent years. He outlines the issues within UK financial services he believes City watchdogs should prioritise to strengthen London as a financial centre and as a listing exchange amid what he sees as a post-Brexit crisis of confidence.
He also details what measures policymakers can take to boost London’s appeal and competitiveness in the lead-up to the upcoming general election.
Craig Coben is a former investment banker with more than 25 years of financial industry experience. He began his banking career at Deutsche Bank in 1997, before moving to Merrill Lynch (now Bank of America) in 2005 where he most recently served as the US bank’s vice-chairman of global capital markets in London and its co-head of global capital markets for its Asia-Pacific region based in Hong Kong. He retired from investment banking in 2022.

Matthew Nunan, former FCA head of enforcement now Gibson Dunn partner, calls on the regulator and the SFO to start working better together

Today’s guest outlines the changes he believes are necessary to future-proof both the UK’s finance regulator the Financial Conduct Authority and the country’s top prosecution agency the Serious Fraud Office. And explains why it’s vital for the two organisations to begin working together more effectively.
He also discusses how the UK’s accountability regime for senior City staff could be improved, where the City needs clarity from the government as to its Brexit plans and plenty more in between.
Matthew Nunan spent six years as a case controller at the SFO, and seven years at the FCA, where he was latterly ran the regulator’s wholesale enforcement department, before moving to US bank Morgan Stanley as head of conduct risk for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2014. Since 2020, he has worked a partner in the dispute resolution practice at law firm Gibson Dunn. 

Former FCA chair Charles Randell on the highs and lows of running the regulator and why he’s focusing now on calling for a government-led strategy to tackle financial exclusion

Today’s guest discusses his tenure as chair of the UK finance regulator the Financial Conduct Authority including his highs and lows in the role, and his advice for those now running the watchdog. He also outlines what unfinished business he had on leaving the FCA, and in doing so explains why “the time is now” for UK policymakers to do more to stamp out financial exclusion in the country.
Charles Randell spent 24 years as partner in the corporate finance practice at law firm Slaughter and May and was the lead external lawyer for the government during the global financial crisis before joining the Bank of England in 2013 as a member of the Prudential Regulation Committee and then becoming chair of the FCA in 2018. He left his post in 2022 and has since worked as a Visiting Fellow in financial services regulation at Queen Mary University of London.